We’re inviting all listeners and Good Beer Seal bars to live stream Heritage Radio Network this Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. with Beer Sessions Radio™. Host Jimmy Carbone will welcome Steve Hindy and Chris O’Leary (with additional guests TBA) to discuss the politics of craft beer. From 7-10 p.m. Jimmy will join Mike Edison of The Mike & Judy Show for live election night coverage.
Oh, and we may mention a certain hurricane and its impact on local breweries and bars.
You can stop by one of our Good Beer Seal bars, Idle Hands at 25 Avenue B, today from 1-8 p.m. for a Candlelight Happy Hour to benefit The Greater New York Region Red Cross. They’ll be bringing some relief to the city by bringing some relief to the local cabin fever. The bar will be open with as many cold drinks as we can serve thanks to an ice & candle delivery from Speakeasy Ales & Lagers and Omer Traditional Blond.
50% of all proceeds from our candlelight happy hour will go to benefit and efforts to repair the damage brought on by Hurricane Sandy.
Can’t make it to the fund raiser? Here are some other ways in which you can help relief efforts
VOLUNTEER:
DONATE:
Hope you can make it.
It’s not Toxic Sludge… It’s Jimmy’s “Beer of the Week”! Host Jimmy Carbone welcomes Blue Point Brewing Company’s Mark Burford and Curt Potter, who bring both their Black and White IPAs for everyone to try. And back from the Great American Beer Festival is Blind Tiger’s Jen Schwertman, who gives a rundown of what she feels was the best GABF to date. Brian Ewing from 12 Percent Imports is also in the studio, talking about his roster of small, European brews.
And our beer experts are doing the can-can over cans, with a prediction that 12-oz bottles may be going the way of the fax machine. You can catch the entire episode (#137) here.
Cider apples always want you to see them sweat! It’s Cider Week NY, and host Jimmy Carbone puts down the beer pint to sample some amazing brews from local cider makers, including phone-in guests Steve Wood’s Farnum Hill and Dan Wilson’s Slyboro. In the studio, Sara Grady is in the house from Glynwood, and she’s talking about The Apple Project, the Cider Week initiative, and the differences between French and American ciders. Plus, Dave Brodrick of Blind Tiger and Worthy Burger shares some cider-making experiences, and homebrew cider-producers Joy Doumis and Jeremy Hammond of Proper Cider discuss making your own cider from apples purchase at the GrowNYC Greenmarket.
Find out why blends are better and the intricacies of making cider on both large and small-scale operations. It’s Cider Week on Episode #136 of Beer Sessions Radio™.
Day two at the GABF was a four brewery tour. We visited Great Divide, Renegade, Hogshead and Prost. Denver has one of the fastest craft brewing areas in the country, and part of this is niche marketing. Great Divide has been around for almost 20 years and is expanding to meet nation-wide demand. However, Renegade prides itself on “experimental big beers,” such as its Avalanche, a Triple IPA (11% ABV). Hogshead’s “English Steve” is a British transplant recreating traditional English cask-conditioned beers. And Prost is trying to market itself as a craft beer for the non-craft drinkers of Colorado, following strict German purity standards and brewing in old-world copper. See the pictures below for your own mini-tour of what is happening in craft in Colorado!
The Great American Beer Festival officially opened last night, and The Good Beer Seal was there, checking out all the action. First up? The Farm to Table Pavilion, an intimate food and beer pairing featuring 24 special craft beers paired with dishes by renown chefs from the Denver area and beyond.
Best of the pairings was tie between Michigan’s Arcadia Ales partnered with Wildwood Restaurant out of Portland, OR. The Arcadia sky High Rye was paired with Hawaiian Ahi tuna, pickled calabrian chiles, crispy shallots, and creme fraiche. The Arcadia XV was paired with slow-cooked pork and tarbais bean ragout, anchovy anchovy oregano breadcrumbs, and remolata.
Right next door was Denver Beer Co. and Denver restaurant LOLA, which paired Pumpkin Beer from a growler with sage duck confit, duck fat fried potato, and a habenero carrot reduction. Their dessert option was the Graham Cracker Porter paired with oyster and Spanish chorizo fried bred pudding, ancho chile, lemon creme fraiche with a reduction syrup made from the Porter.
On episode #135 of Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone welcomed Justin “Squigs” Robertson (Illustrator), Brian Strumke, (Stillwater), Larry Goldstein and Paul Kretzer from Spider Bite Beer Co., Jimmy Ludwig (The Happy Hour Guys), and fellow Good Beer Seal bar owner Rev. David Ciancio (Idle Hands). The beer boys talked about everything from choosing a personal “Beer Disneyland” to the best states for beer. Radio guys talking about television? Check! East Coast brewers talking about West Coast beers? Check. Love it or leave it holiday beer discussion? Check! Everyone drinking some amazing beers and having a great time on the show? Double check, and you can check out the entire episode here.
On Saturday, October 13th, Beer Sessions Radio™ is proud to be co-hosting Harvest Beer & Cider Sessions (with Spirits)! This tasting event features regional ciders (with a few of the world’s best added in to the mix) and includes apple-distilled artisanal spirits curated by Modern Distillery Age along with beer by local craft breweries. For your noshing pleasure, drinks will be paired with cheese and charcuterie. Two general sessions and two featured seminars will take place at Factory on Kent (fka Biba, 110 Kent Avenue at N. 8th Street, Williamsburg). General admission tickets are now only $20 (also available at the door; including one beer ticket). Key features of the day:
In all, more than 20 ciders and 20 specialty craft beers will be available during the general tasting sessions. Get your tickets before they sell out for this key event that will usher in NY Cider Week (October 12-22).
Summary of ticketing options:
Sessions
General Admission Only
Including one beer ticket and limited cider, beer, and spirit sampling, plus food sampling.
Session 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm…………$20.00
Session 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm………….$20.00
VIP
Including unlimited cider, beer, and spirits, plus food sampling.
Session 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm…………$50.00
Session 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm………….$50.00
Seminars
Greg Hall, Virtue Cider
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm………………………….$25.00
Steve Wood, Farnum Hill
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm………………………….$25.00
On Episode #132 (listen here) of Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone—himself a bar owner (Jimmy’s No. 43) hosts a lively conversation on what it takes to run a bar in NYC and beyond. Triple bar owners (and brothers) Ben and Seth Wiley (Mission Dolores, Bar Great Harry, and their newest venture, The Owl Farm) join Carolyn Pincus (The Stag’s Head), Kirk Struble (Fourth Avenue Pub, Washington Commons) and Marcus Burnett & Ethan Long of Rockaway Brewing Company.
Aside from the logistics of opening a bar, there’s the challenge of stocking it with great craft beer. As Ben Wiley notes in the show, “Finding new beers is 10 percent of the job; making sure (the beer) shows up and it’s the right beer, that’s 90 percent.”
Certainly the number of craft beer bars and the number of craft brewers has created a “local revolution” of sorts. Whereas a few years ago, the West Coast breweries really were the only game, now there are many great East Coast breweries, although differences remain between attitudes (west = pretty chill; east = breaking a sweat to make great beer) and styles.
The great group of bar owners and brewers on this episode talk “cool ship,” collaborative brewing and weird beers. Listen in or download at iTunes.
If you can’t wait for next month’s Cider Week (October 12-21), you don’t have to! Tomorrow night (9/18) you can get a preview of Cider Week at Cider Salon 2012, presented by Glynwood and NY Cider Week, at Astor Center’s Main Gallery (399 Lafayette Street). From 6-8 p.m., you can partake of more than a dozen different ciders from some amazing cideries:
Your $30 ticket also gets you plenty of local cheese to nosh on and the knowledge that you’re benefiting Glynwood’s Apple Project. Hope to see you there!
